Air conditioning system



Oct.- 15,1940. s. M. ANDERSN 2,218,190

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0t l5, 1940. s M'. MmnRsoNA 2,218,190

AIR CONDITIONIIIG SYSTEM Original Fild July 8, 19.3 7 E Sheets-Sheet 2 ll I I I I l I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I II I I I I l l.. I I I I I I I I I l. I l I I I I I I I l I l I I I I I II I I I I I I I I l L I I I I I I I I I I l I I I I I I I I l l I l l II l L @midway I Patented Oct. l5, 1.94()

UNiTEo STATESv PATENT OFFICE 2,218,190 A m coNnmoNnvG SYSTEM Samuel M.Anderson, Sharon, Mass., assignor to i B. F. Sturtevant Company, Boston,Mass.

Application July 8, 1937, Serial No. `152,579 Renewed October 17, 1939 2claims. (ci. :as-1o)- passenger in a railway passenger, car, forexample, adds many germs to the air in his or her vicinity, which air isrecirculated through the conditioner and supplied with the germs to theother passengers. The usual air conditioners especially of the drysurface or coil type as distinguished from washers, do not eectivelyremove bacteria from the air. Another recognized disadvantage ofreconditioning recirculated air is that odors are not removed and thisobjection apvplies particularly to the use of coll type conditioners inrailway passenger cars.

This invention provides means for removing bacteriaand odors from airand for supplying substantially pure air to a conditioner fortemperature and where desired, humidity conditioning. The conditionermay be of the coil type although it is preferred that air washers beused for the reason that experience has shown that not only is the airtreated by such conditioners more wholesome but more accurate humidityand temperature control may be obtained.

An object of this invention is to effectively purify air.

Another vobject of the invention is to remove bacteria from air to beconditioned.

Another object of the invention is to remove odors from air to beconditioned.

4g Another object of the invention is to provide in an air conditioningsystem 'an air purifier and conditioner.

Another and more limited object of the invention is to provide withinthe limited space available, an air purier and conditioning system for apassenger vehicle.

Other objects of the invention will be apparent from the followingdescription and the drawings:

The invention will now be described with reference to the drawings ofwhich:

Fig. 1 is a`view in section of a railway passenger car on which isinstalled one embodiment of the invention: Fig. 2 is a schematic view ofthe system of Fig. 1, with supply accessories:

Fig. 3 is a plan view, partially in section of the system of Fig. l1;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view along the lines 13--4 of 3, and

Fig. 5 is a partial view, enlarged of the duct 5 of Fig. 4 and is takenalong the lines 5 5 of Fig. 4.

Due to the necessity of avoiding using passenger space, the space forair conditioning apparatus is limited. It is customary to mount the loair conditioners in one end and in the roof zone of a railway car. It isusual with such arrangements to draw the recirculated air 'through a:ceiling grille underneath the air conditioner,l

fresh air being drawn in through the vestibule.

According to this invention, it is proposed to Apurify the recirculatedair on its way to the con-- ditioner. The proper purifyingapparatusoccupies considerable space so in one embodiment of this invention, thepurifier `is located overheadgthe passenger space in the opposite end-ofthe. car from the air conditioner and supplies pure recirculated air tothe' conditioner. A y y It is preferred that a spray type conditioner 6suchas is disclosed in my copending applica- 25 t tion, Serial No.107,019, led Oct. 22 1936, be mounted in one end o'f the car. Thisconditioner receives and sprays refrigerated water in summer and maycontain the usual heat exchange coils for heating in winter. The fans 1of the condi- 30' tioner 6 draw in fresh air through the vestibulegrille 8 containing the usual filter and supply it to the conditioner.The conditioner Salso recives purified recirculated air forreconditiolig as will now be described. 35 The purifier 9 may be anelectro-static precipitator of the type described beginning on page 159of the January, 1937, Proceedings of American Institute of ElectricalEngineers. With this type of purifier.' microscopic foreign particlesare 40 removed from 'the air and deposited for vcollec'- tion byelectro-static action. The fans Iare associated with the precipitatorand draw in recir- 'culated air from the car through the grille II andpass it through the purier. The ultra-violet sterilizer I2 shown mountedon theoutput side of the precipitator 8 may also be used for p yingthe'recirculated air drawn in by the fan I B. This lamp l2 may be usedalone for sterilizing the air or may be used with or al- 5C ternatelywith the precipitator .as desired by manipulation of the switches I3 andI 4 which act to connect the precipitator' and lamp- I2 to the rotaryconverter I5 or other suitable source of eletlic 8119187.

The lamp I2 maybe of the type 65 is preferred however,

which generates very strong ultra-violet light through the ionization ofa gas such as mercury vapor.

As shown most clearly by Figs. 3, 4 and 5, the fans I0 draw inrecirculated air from the passenger space; pass it through theprecipitator 9 and if the sterilizer discharge the puriiied air throughthe duct I6 which extends the length of the car into the chamber l1enclosing the conditioner' and fans 1. The fans 1 draw in outside airthrough the grille 8 and the mixed outside and the purified recirculatedair is 6 where it is conditioned.' y

The conditioned air from the conditioner 6 is forced through the duct I8and discharges there# from through the small openings I9 into thepassage 24 from which it passes into the passenger space through theopenings 20 below the deflector 2|. The ducts I6 and I8 may be arrangedalongside each other thereby conserving both space and material.

Means maybe provided of course for passing some outside air into thepuriiier and means may also be provided for passing some recirculatedair directly into the conditioner. Likewise the puriiier could dischargeair directly into the car. It

puriiier be all recirculated air which is more likely to be contaminatedby odors and germs and that the conditioner handle directly introducedoutside air when is likely to be substantially free from contamination.With the arrangement i1- lustrated, all foreign matter added within thecar to the air is removed with the result that the savings inrefrigeration due to the reconditioning of recirculated air areaccomplished, while pure air is' supplied to'.the conditioner. Theprecipitator 9 removes the small oily particles responsible for odors aswell as a large percentage of the bacteria. During an epidemic or.whenfit is desired to take unusual precautions, the ultra-violet lampI2 may be used with the precipitator 9. The ultra-violet lampb isbelieved to be more eiective as far as destroying germs is concernedsince its light acts' upon invisible germs, the minute size of whichmight prevent them being acted upon by the electro-static precipitator.Of course the ul- I2 is used, over it, and then passed through theconditioner that the air supplied to the tra-violet lamp could bemounted in advance with respect to air iiow of the precipitator.

In the arrangement illustrated by the drawings, the fans mounted withthe electric purier are not absolutely necessaryas the fans of theconditioner will draw the recirculated air through the sterilizer.

' The sterilizer as well as the conditioner may, of course, be locatedelsewhere in or on the car than overhead the passenger space. A

While o ie embodiment of the invention has been described for thepurpose of illustration, it should be `understood that the invention isnot limited to the exact apparatus and arrangement illustrated as manydepartures may be suggested by those skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. An air conditioning system for a passenger vehicle comprising an airconditioner located in one end of said vehicle, anelectric air puriiierlocated in the other end of said vehicle, means for passing outside airinto said conditioner, means for passing air recirculated from thepassenger space, into said puriiier, and a pair of overhead longitudinalducts arranged alongside each other between said conditioner and saidpurier, one of'4 said-ducts receiving air from said purifier and Idischarging same into said conditioner, and the other of said ductsreceiving air from said conditiner andv discharging same into thepassenger space of said vehicle.

2. An air conditioning system for a passenger vehicle comprising an airconditioner located in one end of said vehicle, an electric air purierlocated in the other end of said vehicle, means for passing outside airinto said conditioner, means.l A

for` passing air recirculated from the passenger space, into saidpurifier, a pair of longitudinal ducts,means for passing air from saidconditioner into one of said ducts, means for passing air from saidpurifier through the other of said ducts into said conditioner, andmeans connecting with the duct from said conditioner for directing theair 'from said conditioner into the passenger space of saidvehicle.

y SAMUEL M. ANDERSON.v

